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Kenya needs 3m passports quarterly on labour travels
Cabinet Secretary for Interior and National Administration Kithure Kindiki when he appeared before the National Assembly Committee on regional Integration at Continental House Nairobi on March 21, 2024. PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NMG
The State has turned to the National Security Intelligence Service (NIS) to help secure passport printing materials from overseas to clear a backlog of 724,000 applications and new requests.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki told Parliament the government is facing difficulties sourcing passport printing materials due to worldwide supply chain shortfalls.
“I have assigned the National Intelligence Service (NIS) to support the State Department for Immigration and Registration of Citizens to get us these travel materials,” Prof Kindiki told the Regional Integration Committee.
He told Parliament that the Immigration Department requires three million passport booklets every 90 days but suppliers can only provide 1.5 million.
“NIS has been supporting us with the procurement of the booklets and we have made tremendous progress since then. This has also helped us cut tender wars and the attendant nonsense on urgent procurement.”
He said the surge in the applications is tied to government policy on exportation of labour.
“We have approached all of them (suppliers), and they have told us they can’t supply us the numbers we need to arrest the situation. We need three million booklets every 90 days for the next two years to give all Kenyans passports,” Prof Kindiki said.
“After that, we will then move to schools to provide all 18-year-olds and above, passports even without them applying. I am sure we will be there because every Kenyan has a right to hold a passport.”
Prof Kindiki said suppliers have cited a worldwide shortage of passport printing materials.
Prof Kindiki did not indicate the number of booklets the NIS will secure under the supply intervention.
This is not the first time that the government is tapping the services of the spy agency to secure critical equipment.
In 2020, the government engaged the NIS to secure and supply ventilators — used in intensive care for Covid-19 patients with breathing difficulties — worth Sh300 million to the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa).
An inquiry by the National Assembly’s Health Committee revealed that Kemsa received a consignment of Covid-19 health products and technologies (HPTs) from the spy agency.
The team that investigated the controversial purchase of Covid-19 kits said it was unable to review how the NIS procured then 100 ventilators that were in short supply at the height of the pandemic.
Prof Kindiki apologised to the country for not meeting an earlier target to issue passports within seven days of application.
The CS said budgetary constraints have been addressed after the Treasury agreed to allow Immigration to spend Sh3 billion of internally generated funds to finance the operations and procure the passport booklets.
“The Treasury has allowed the State Department of Immigration to spend Sh3 billion annually out of the Sh20 billion that it collects in appropriations-in-aid," Prof Kindiki said.
“If we get Sh5 billion annually to the Immigration Department, the revenue collected will jump to Sh100 billion annually,” he said while promising to move officers suspected of corruption.
